Varaiety!?

[jverne]

In my opinion HL2 lacked level varaiety. In Hl1 there were some levels really diffrent and i constantly had a felling i was lost in the middle of nowhere (which i like). Ok Ravenholm is my best level in HL2, but the whole game somehow missed varaiety and the "lost" feeling! What do you think? Will Aftermath be better in this category?

What was that level in HL1 where you were thrown in that press? Maybe it was a bit frustrating but i liked it!

 

[Solver]

The 'lost' feeling can easily translate into actually getting lost in a level, which is not fun anymore .
HL2 did have variety. Dark and creepy (Ravenholm), vehicle parts, squad combat (later parts), very intese close quarters (Nova Prospekt), scenery (Citadel). The gameplay was different in those, that's what matters. In Ravenhom, you kind of took it slower, but there was a ton of stuff to use with the gravgun, in vehicle parts, you drove around, in the Citadel, you admited the beauty, in Nova Prospekt, you used your skills...

 

[Noobulon]

HL2 has more variety in terms of gameplay imo.

It also had loads of variety in the locations, as Solver has listed. In fact, I'd say the constant jumping between location types in HL2 is one of the things that reduces the lost and isolated feeling. There's always some nearby rebels propelling you towards the next area. I found that I rarely stayed still long enough in one place to feel "lost".

Which I liked, tbh

 

[avraell]

Spelled "variety," but I agree with you. Nova prospect wasnt close combat, there were always great distances to shoot across. Not even close to half life corridor and storage room fights.

 

[Ennui]

Half-Life and Half-Life 2 have different feels - HL was tense and claustrophobic, HL2 is open and revolutionary.

I personally miss the HL feel too, and I'm considering doing a few maps in that style.

 

[Draculas_Guest]

I liked HL2 for the most part, but despite all the stuff with the physics, facial animations, etc. the world felt more 2-dimensional than the world of HL1.

For instance, interaction with Barney was much more restricted in HL2. I figure thats because he was made a main character and had a lot of scripted sequences (which were fantastically executed) but the actual combat you had with him towards the end of the game didnt feel as interesting or as dynamic.
In the first game, you could get Barney to stay behind, or cover you, and get some smarmy comment out of him ("I bet that stings a little"). If you and Barney were shooting headcrabs out and you accidently clipped his arm he'd tell you to watch your fire, while if you were to attack him directly or a kill a nearby scientist he'd start laying in to you.
In HL2 if you try interacting with him he just stares at you with a blank face, waiting for the next scripted sequence to come along. Shoot him in the face and he doesnt so much as blink (I guess he was wearing his bullet-proof aftershave).

There was a bigger variety of weapons in the first game too, and they seemed to have more of a use throughout the game. The trip mines could be used to set traps for the black ops, the harpoon gun was good for underwater combat with the ichythosaur etc.

There were other silly little things that bugged me as well. When you had to rescue Barney from the snipers, only the grenades would work against them. In the first game I could put a rocket through the window and blow the marines to pieces, yet strangely they didnt have an affect on the combine if they were hidden behind a pane of glass...

Some of these were fairly minor things, but they just added to the level of depth in the HL world.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Actually, grenades aren't the only weapon that work on the snipers.
Rockets kill them quite nicely as well.
Also, I haven't attempted it, but I would assume that SMG grenades also work.